Two delegations from Fatah and Hamas held a meeting in Cairo on Tuesday evening for the second time since Hamas took power in Gaza in June 2007. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Hamas delegation, which arrived in Cairo on Tuesday from Gaza, was not in Egypt to talk about the truce. He also added the visit to Cairo, in coordination with Egypt, aimed to pave the way for the Palestinian national dialogue due to be held on February 22. Speaking to Al-Masry Al-Youm, he said the delegation had held a meeting on Tuesday with Fatah leading figures Azzam el-Ahmed and Ahmed Abdel Rahman, adding that the meetings would continue in order to ease tensions. He also pointed out that the meeting had discussed the obstacles hampering the national dialogue, mainly political arrests, slashed salaries and media campaigns. He then affirmed that a delegation from Hamas responsible for discussing the truce was expected to meet with Minister Oman Suleiman today to look at Israel's responses to Hamas' request for details concerning the truce. He also said that the movement's delegation was likely to have arrived in Cairo yesterday evening from Damascus. He then denied knowing whether this delegation included some members from Damascus, such as the vice-president of the movement's political bureau Moussa Abou Marzouq. Barhoum was then asked whether the results of the Israeli elections would affect the truce talks. "We've got an enemy we can't trust. We expect everything, but we're going to stick to our demands without being affected by changes in Israel." The head of Fatah parliamentary block Azzam al-Ahmad said Hamas officials had called him to arrange the meeting. "I agreed to hold this meeting and informed Egypt's officials, who welcomed the news". During the meeting, the parties agreed to keep in contact to arrange a dialogue as quickly as possible, he said. Al-Ahmad said Hamas' proposal to form a committee dealing with the problem of detainees was important. However, he said that this committee should start working after the meetings and that the release of prisoners from the Palestinian Authority's prisons must not be a condition to start the dialogue. He also added that Egypt has invited all Palestinian factions to start a two-phase dialogue. The first phase would kick off on February 22 to start arranging the dialogue through the five committees proposed by Hamas last November - when efforts were being made to hold this dialogue. "We hope Hamas will attend the dialogue. We've agreed to form the five committees and we hope Hamas' proposal and approval is not a tactical move" the head of the delegation from Fatah said. He added the committees, according to Egypt's invitation, would kick off their meetings on February 28 and would end them after no more than three days if they led to a comprehensive inter-Palestinian dialogue. Meanwhile, Hamas delegation met Syria's Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa in Damascus yesterday.
